
A shiny new British Airways A380. BA says that it “takes a lot of muscle” to keep planes clean (Photo: British Airways)
Like a shiny, freshly washed and waxed car, a shiny, clean plane is a thing of beauty. Right?
But have you ever excitedly peered out at the plane you’re about to board and thought, “Hmm, that big bird needs a bath!”
As much as what’s inside the plane is what counts (especially in these days of the ebola scare), that first impression of the outside of the aircraft may be even more important. If it’s dull and grimy on the outside, you might raise an eyebrow and wonder what you’ll see inside.
So we asked several airlines about how they keep their planes sparkling clean — or at least try to.
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“We wash the exterior of our aircraft every fifty days, and that schedule is the same regardless of fleet type,” United Airlines’ Jennifer Dohm tells TravelSkills. “The locations for washing are determined by where the aircraft are laying over at an airport for at least eight hours. As a global airline, United’s wash locations are found throughout the world at fourteen airports including Houston, Newark, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sao Paulo.”

All United aircraft are washed by hand using extension poles (Photo: United Airlines)
“The washing schedule is the same year round; it doesn’t vary by season,” Dohm notes, although “in the winter, we add three additional locations in Florida. A widebody aircraft typically takes about five hours to wash with a crew of three to five people and it’s all done by hand using an extension pole.”
Across the Atlantic, Richard Goodfellow from British Airways explains that the frequency its planes are washed “depends on the aircraft type, but typically every six to eight weeks. We try to wash the short-haul ones more often as they do more take-offs and landings each day than a long-haul jet.”
British Airways mostly washes its aircraft at the airline’s London Heathrow and Gatwick hubs, using “specialist cleaning detergent, high lifts, aircraft brushes and quite a bit of muscle!” Each aircraft takes up to eight hours to wash.
Does the schedule differ at various times of year, we asked. “Not particularly,” Goodfellow said, but noted that, “Obviously it is not practical to wash aircraft in certain poor weather conditions.”
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Meanwhile, James Boyd at Singapore Airlines tells us, “Our aircraft are washed monthly. This does not include additional washes required if dirty spots are found on the aircraft. Our aircraft are washed at designated bays at Changi Airport in Singapore. It typically ranges from two to five hours, depending on the general condition of the aircraft and the services required.”
Singapore uses “an aircraft cleaning robotic system, scissor lifts, aerial lifts and water tankers,” and its schedule doesn’t differ between its aircraft types (although SQ operates only widebody aircraft so its planes are all in the ‘large’ category) or dependent on the time of year.
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Washing the underbelly of a United Airlines jet– it takes a lot of elbow grease! (United Airlines)
Interestingly, no airline would tell us how much it costs to wash an aircraft, citing commercial sensitivity. Nor would any carrier comment on whether they intend to wash their planes more or less frequently than other airlines.
So it seems that “the world’s cleanest airline” isn’t (yet) part of the advertising we’ll see at the airport.
But which airline has the dirtiest planes? Sound off below or, better yet, send your super clean or super filthy aircraft pictures to us via email, and we’ll post them here.
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All aircraft should be cleaned every month. for example, a boeing 747 will collect up to 1 tonne of dirt very month. Fuel consumption is a major issue so to wash your aircraft for about £1,000 A MONTH must be viable.
I have been in this industry for 25 years and I still believe that a good team of 6 staff with the correct machinery i.e. A Dino wash robot +two cherry pickers, and a portable water system fitted with sufficient pumps to rinse the soap off (most important), correct brushes an again very important, th best soap i.e. Dad if CD1 or 501..TEAMWORK IS ESSENTIAL So keep them happy and they will give you back the respect you need to make this work.
I have seen many companies like BA at Heathrow invest in special coatings to reduce dirt. This is very very expensive and too be honest, it doesn’t work.
Wet wash your A/C every month with a company that controls your washing programme so you can place your valuable time into other areas if more importance.
Please e-mail me if you require any more advice
Regards
Troy Perry
tperry@hotmail.co.uk
While the interiors of United is generally pretty clean in my experience, their exteriors are almost always dirty. On the flip side I can’t recall ever seeing an Air New Zealand aircraft dirty. Perhaps just luck of the draw.
Hmmm. I don’t know but will ask! Thanks — chris
Chris, does the (pink) de-icing liquid cause an aircraft to be dirtier (during the winter months)? Always curious about it. Thx!
Thanks very much, Bob! We never get enough feedback and your short sweet comment has brightened this rainy Friday! — chris
Interesting topic and good read!